This chapter is dedicated to Akuma-Sama ... you write mini-scenes that have no relevance to the fic, so can I:
Crabbe and Goyle troop onto a cheap stage that creaks under their combined weight, "What were we meant to do?" Goyle asks Crabbe.
Crabbe shows Goyle the note with their instructions on it in Comic Sans typeface.
"Wha's 'at say?" Goyle asks dumbly.
"I dunno." Crabbe admits.
Draco walks out onto the stage, whacks Goyle, then whack Crabbe, and mutters to both of them the instructions he and VM had both given them at least two dozen times.
The Two Twits nod dumbly. Draco leaves the stage muttering, "Can't get good help these days."
Crabbe clears his throat, Goyle looks confused, then they both start to sing horribly off-key, "Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday Akumasamathedemonlord, happy birth-day, tooo-ooooo-ooooooooooooo you!"
"Boo! Get off the stage!" VMorticia yells, as she, Draco, Theo, and Blaise throw various rotten fruit and veg at the Two Twits, while Pansy files her nails not deigning to touch the rotten foodstuffs.
Crabbe and Goyle leave the stage quickly, to boos from the audience and ominous creaking from the stage itself.
Theo jumps up onto the stage, and removes the blood-lolly-pop from his mouth, then perfectly in tune, to the tune of We Wish You A Merry Christmas, "We wish you a happy birthday, we wish you a happy birthday, we wish you a happy birthday, and have fun being eighteen!"
The crowd cheers and applauds, and many shouts, from both real and fictitious characters, of "Happy birthday!" can be heard.
* * *
Disclaimer: Much as I'd like to, I don't own Draco Malfoy, or any part of the magical world that J.K. Rowling has all the copyrights to ... please don't sue me. There are some parts of this story that are quotes from the book - it can't be helped - events are the same as in the book, but Draco's opinion of these events may vary from Harry's.
Goyle's behaviour in the Muggle Studies exam is inspired by an excellent cult-TV program - which one, you ask? If you can't guess, you don't deserve to know.
Author's Notes: I needed to do some re-writing, after reading OotP. I have made some minor changes to this chapter, mostly spelling and grammar.
fcuking cathy: Yeah, she gets visions ... but nothing major since CoS. Black has been watching Harry and asking Crookshanks about him, and what he's seen/heard indicates Harry is a lot like James.
Caz Malfoy: Yep, he did cheat.
Exodia Himself: Just wait till you read what my twisted mind made of Blast-Ended Skrewts :P
dragonsprincess: Well, Sirius was right ... on both counts ... wasn't he?
Here, we find out about Hermione's little secret ... although it's only due to Slytherin logic, not her willingness to tell us.
Chapter 19 - Time Turner
Exams were easy ... really ... honestly. I had a free hour before my Muggle Studies exam, and Hermione made a point of showing up ... odd - I'm sure I'd just seen her going off to her Defence exam.
"Hello, Granger." I said, sneering as usual.
"Hello, Malfoy." she replied with a sneer to match my own.
We glared at each other for some time, "Buckbeak's appeal is this afternoon, I've heard." she said, simply. [A/N: she heard an few hours later, by the way - I worked the timing out carefully.]
"So?" I asked.
"So I want you to help - get him acquitted." she snapped.
"One, I have exams this afternoon -"
"That can be worked around." she interrupted.
I glared, "Two, I can't go against my father, and my own previous - if a bit rash - decision. And just how could we 'work around' the both of us having a Muggle Studies exam at the exact same time as the appeal?" I gave her a searching look.
She shifted uncomfortably under my gaze, "Um ..."
"You must have a good trick up your sleeve, for that." I grinned, "Someone else willing to take Polyjuice to take our exams for us?" I asked, deliberately bringing up the incident in second year.
"No ... not that." she said, not meeting my eyes.
"So what, then?" I asked.
"Nothing." she muttered, looking guilty.
"See, this is the problem with Gryffindors - they can't lie to save their lives." I said, smirking, "So what have you got up your sleeve?" I asked.
"It's not up my sleeve." she looked at me and smirked, "It's down the front of my shirt, and unless you want me to shriek so loud that Trelawney hears me, you'll not be trying anything, will you?"
I smirked, "I wouldn't dare - I have no intention of being deafened ... or slapped again."
"Good, then this line of conversation is over." she said, giving me a stern look.
"I - I'm sorry, I can't do anything about the Hippogriff." I said, dropping my mask and giving her an honest look, "I made a rash decision ... a - a mistake ... but I can't take it back now." it really took me a lot of effort to admit this, but something about the look she gave me made me want to drop to my knees and beg her for forgiveness ... I didn't, but the fact that I even considered it was unnerving.
* * *
The Muggle Studies exam was by far the most difficult of the lot - but I did get through it. Eventually. Crabbe and Goyle were another matter altogether - they tried to cheat. Their idea of cheating was this: Crabbe, after answering the only two questions he thought he had a guess at, took a pinch of Zonko's nose-bleed powder (that must be what they bought in Zonko's a while ago), and covered his exam paper with blood - this landed him in the Hospital Wing for the rest of the day. Meanwhile, Goyle wrote "I am a rubber duck" five hundred times, did a funny little dance and fainted. Crabbe got away with it, but was told he has to re-sit the test at the end of the week. Goyle failed spectacularly, on the spot.
* * *
That evening, I was watching from the Library window as the sun started to set - the Hippogriff was waiting irritably for the executioner - I felt really sorry for it.
Then I spotted Potter and Hermione trying to sneak round to the edge of the Forest near Hagrid's hut. What confused me was that, as I watched the two Ministry men walking down to Hagrid's hut I had quite a clear view as Potter, Weasley and Hermione appeared out of the back of Hagrid's hut and threw an Invisibility Cloak around themselves ... so I was right - I so have to get me one of those. But who had I just seen run down to the Forest, then?
Curiouser and curiouser.
The second I saw this, I bolted, down to the dungeons as fast as I could, and almost hit Snape in the face, as he opened the door of his office just as I was about to knock it. "Professor Snape." I said, surprised. Not that I was surprised to see him, just that I was surprised that he'd appeared before I'd knocked.
"What seems to be the matter, Mr Malfoy?" Snape asked, not stopping, as he started walking briskly upwards, carrying a smoking goblet of some potion or other.
I had to jog to keep up with him, as I said, "Potter ... Weasley ... and Granger ... they're down at ... Hagrid's hut." quite out of breath, but then I had run all the way down there.
"Really?" he asked, in a malicious tone. I nodded, "I will deal with them as soon as I drop off this potion to Professor Lupin." he said - somehow making Lupin's name sound like a derogatory term.
I shivered, realising this was a wolf moon tonight, but didn't say anything to that. I followed Snape, hoping to get the opportunity to gloat when he caught Potter and his friends out where they shouldn't be. But when we got to the Defence teacher's office, Lupin was conspicuously absent. On his desk was a piece of parchment, but no teacher.
Snape swore quite fluently, before stalking over to the desk and examining the parchment there. He swore again, much more profusely, and ordered me not to follow him, then swept out of the room, all-but-running. As he disappeared around the corner, I heard his footsteps accelerate to probably as fast as he could run.
Strange. I wondered what that parchment said that upset Snape so much. So I walked over to read it.
'Messrs Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs
Purveyors of Aids to Magical Mischief-Makers
are proud to present
THE MARAUDER'S MAP'
The words were written in scrawling handwriting at the top of what appeared to be - as the title said - a map. Of Hogwarts. Including many secret passageways that I had never seen before.
I stared at it for a minute, before quickly taking out a blank piece of parchment from my pocket and a quill from Lupin's desk. I started to copy out as much of the map as I could. Obviously I couldn't copy the moving dots that represented the inhabitants of the castle, but knowing where the secret passageways were would be a good one-up on my current state of knowledge - I wasn't about to steal from the werewolf.
I had just finished copying all the dungeon, first, second, third and fourth floor passageways, and was starting on the fifth floor, when a movement on the map caught my eye - someone labelled Harry Potter and someone else labelled Hermione Granger were standing bloody close to someone labelled Sirius Black ... but what confused me was another dot labelled Harry Potter was at the far side of the lake, and a second Hermione Granger was in Hagrid's hut ... I stared for a few seconds, then went back to my copying - the top three floors had fewer secret passageways, anyway, and it didn't take long for me to finish taking notes.
I pocketed my parchment, and replaced the quill on the table, and glanced at the map again - Snape, Black, Weasley (Ron), Potter and Hermione were all moving towards the castle ... although the other Potter and Hermione were now close together at the far side of the lake. What was going on? Did Hermione have some way of being in two places at once?
I took note of this detail to worry about later, and bolted from the room, towards the Entrance Hall, where I waited for Snape to return - the map didn't show what state anyone on it was in - I had no idea if Snape was all right, or not - so I waited with my hand on my wand, just in case I felt the need to hex anyone.
The floating unconscious bodies of Potter, Weasley, and Hermione came through the main doors first ... closely followed by the much less carefully levitated but equally unconscious body of Sirius Black ... followed by Professor Snape, who was obviously in control of the hovering charms. I relaxed a little, and stepped out of the shadows, "What's going on, Professor?" I asked.
"I told you to stay out of the way." Snape snapped.
"I did - I kept myself well out of the way until I saw it was safe." I replied icily.
He glared at me, but then smiled, "I have apprehended Sirius Black, single-handed. He seemed to have some sort of confundus charm on Potter and his lackeys, that made them firmly believe Ronald Weasley's pet rat was Peter Pettigrew." he explained in the tone of a great hero who had saved the day.
I froze, and stared at Black in shock ... he caught the rat?
"Yes, amazing isn't it?" Snape continued with a proud smirk, and an almost palpable air of smugness. He must have misinterpreted the cause of my shock. "Of course, it just proves how much of a gullible fool Potter is ... much like his father."
I nodded slowly, "So was there even a rat there?" I asked, trying to make it sound like I was agreeing with him.
"Weasley's rat was there, yes ... though I can't imagine what leap of idiocy inspired them all to believe that the creature - which I myself have used to test potions on - was anything but a cheap substitute for a castle rodent." he said sneeringly.
I nodded in agreement, while staring at the unconscious Gryffindolts. "Idiots." I muttered.
"Indeed." he said, coldly, "Now, go back to your common room, Mr Malfoy." I nodded reluctantly, and did as I was told.
I got down to the common room in record time, "Cat, Blaise - emergency meeting." I muttered to the two girls, who quickly rounded up their gossip with Milli and some fourth year girl - I didn't know her name - and they followed me into the boys' dorm room, "Crabbe, Goyle - out - NOW!" they gathered up some parchments, and a book with a blank cover, and evacuated the room pretty quickly.
Cat and Blaise looked at me with curiosity, while Theo bounced on his bed, obviously hyper again ... someone needs to teach that boy to go easy on the sugar.
"Black's been captured ... but ... there's something odd going on." I took out my Spy Ball, and tapped it once, muttering the name "Hermione Granger." and what it showed was a sort of split-screen - one showed her lying on the bed in the hospital wing, the other showed her talking to Harry Potter at the far side of the lake.
"What the -?" Theo asked.
"It looks like there's two of them." I said, staring - there was another Harry Potter in the background of the Hospital Wing, too. "I have no idea how, though."
Blaise started counting off on her fingers, "Duplicating Spell. Polyjuice Potion. Illusion Charms. Time Turner. Glamoury."
"Time Turner? What's that?" Cat asked.
"It's a necklace that looks like an hourglass, and it turns back time, so you can do two things at once." I replied, thinking ... hadn't Hermione said she didn't have any tricks up her sleeve - it was down the front of her shirt - like a necklace. "I think Time Turner is our best bet - Polyjuice and Glamoury wouldn't fool the Spy Ball ... Duplicating Spells are really complicated, and an Illusion Charm wouldn't have lasted for two and a half hours, so far." I noted, "Though where she got her hands on one, I don't know."
"What makes you so sure it's Hermione who got her hands on it?" Theo asked.
"She dropped a few hints ... and if my theory is right, she's been using it all year to get to so many classes." I noted.
"Yeah ... makes sense." Theo conceded.
"Besides, Potter's not that smart." I noted, glancing at the spy ball ... the Hippogriff was there. "What the hell?"
"It's Buckbeak ... shouldn't he be dead by now?" Theo asked.
"Yes ... he should." I said distantly, "Unless someone wants to seriously piss off my father ... I can just imagine Potter playing hero for the poor defenceless creature." I was smirking, now. I hoped it did piss him off.
I watched in amusement as the two Gryffindors took off on the Hippogriff and flew around the school.
"What are they playing at? They could get in so much trouble!" Blaise said, shocked, then after a few seconds to think on this, she added, "Let's hope they get expelled for it."
I shook my head and turned off the spy ball - I didn't want to see Potter flying around on that thing - even if they didn't know I could see them, it still felt like they were trying to rub it in my face, somehow.
"Hey! I was watching that!" Theo whined.
"So?" I asked, then decided to change the subject, "Now, here's the good news - I found a map of Hogwarts, with all the secret passageways on it ... it was in Lupin's office, and there's no way I'd steal from him - he can't afford it anyway - but I copied it all down here." and I held up the parchment for them to see.
That successfully changed the subject, as we all started deciding exactly what to do with this new-found knowledge.
* * *
End of chapter 19
Crabbe and Goyle troop onto a cheap stage that creaks under their combined weight, "What were we meant to do?" Goyle asks Crabbe.
Crabbe shows Goyle the note with their instructions on it in Comic Sans typeface.
"Wha's 'at say?" Goyle asks dumbly.
"I dunno." Crabbe admits.
Draco walks out onto the stage, whacks Goyle, then whack Crabbe, and mutters to both of them the instructions he and VM had both given them at least two dozen times.
The Two Twits nod dumbly. Draco leaves the stage muttering, "Can't get good help these days."
Crabbe clears his throat, Goyle looks confused, then they both start to sing horribly off-key, "Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday Akumasamathedemonlord, happy birth-day, tooo-ooooo-ooooooooooooo you!"
"Boo! Get off the stage!" VMorticia yells, as she, Draco, Theo, and Blaise throw various rotten fruit and veg at the Two Twits, while Pansy files her nails not deigning to touch the rotten foodstuffs.
Crabbe and Goyle leave the stage quickly, to boos from the audience and ominous creaking from the stage itself.
Theo jumps up onto the stage, and removes the blood-lolly-pop from his mouth, then perfectly in tune, to the tune of We Wish You A Merry Christmas, "We wish you a happy birthday, we wish you a happy birthday, we wish you a happy birthday, and have fun being eighteen!"
The crowd cheers and applauds, and many shouts, from both real and fictitious characters, of "Happy birthday!" can be heard.
* * *
Disclaimer: Much as I'd like to, I don't own Draco Malfoy, or any part of the magical world that J.K. Rowling has all the copyrights to ... please don't sue me. There are some parts of this story that are quotes from the book - it can't be helped - events are the same as in the book, but Draco's opinion of these events may vary from Harry's.
Goyle's behaviour in the Muggle Studies exam is inspired by an excellent cult-TV program - which one, you ask? If you can't guess, you don't deserve to know.
Author's Notes: I needed to do some re-writing, after reading OotP. I have made some minor changes to this chapter, mostly spelling and grammar.
fcuking cathy: Yeah, she gets visions ... but nothing major since CoS. Black has been watching Harry and asking Crookshanks about him, and what he's seen/heard indicates Harry is a lot like James.
Caz Malfoy: Yep, he did cheat.
Exodia Himself: Just wait till you read what my twisted mind made of Blast-Ended Skrewts :P
dragonsprincess: Well, Sirius was right ... on both counts ... wasn't he?
Here, we find out about Hermione's little secret ... although it's only due to Slytherin logic, not her willingness to tell us.
Chapter 19 - Time Turner
Exams were easy ... really ... honestly. I had a free hour before my Muggle Studies exam, and Hermione made a point of showing up ... odd - I'm sure I'd just seen her going off to her Defence exam.
"Hello, Granger." I said, sneering as usual.
"Hello, Malfoy." she replied with a sneer to match my own.
We glared at each other for some time, "Buckbeak's appeal is this afternoon, I've heard." she said, simply. [A/N: she heard an few hours later, by the way - I worked the timing out carefully.]
"So?" I asked.
"So I want you to help - get him acquitted." she snapped.
"One, I have exams this afternoon -"
"That can be worked around." she interrupted.
I glared, "Two, I can't go against my father, and my own previous - if a bit rash - decision. And just how could we 'work around' the both of us having a Muggle Studies exam at the exact same time as the appeal?" I gave her a searching look.
She shifted uncomfortably under my gaze, "Um ..."
"You must have a good trick up your sleeve, for that." I grinned, "Someone else willing to take Polyjuice to take our exams for us?" I asked, deliberately bringing up the incident in second year.
"No ... not that." she said, not meeting my eyes.
"So what, then?" I asked.
"Nothing." she muttered, looking guilty.
"See, this is the problem with Gryffindors - they can't lie to save their lives." I said, smirking, "So what have you got up your sleeve?" I asked.
"It's not up my sleeve." she looked at me and smirked, "It's down the front of my shirt, and unless you want me to shriek so loud that Trelawney hears me, you'll not be trying anything, will you?"
I smirked, "I wouldn't dare - I have no intention of being deafened ... or slapped again."
"Good, then this line of conversation is over." she said, giving me a stern look.
"I - I'm sorry, I can't do anything about the Hippogriff." I said, dropping my mask and giving her an honest look, "I made a rash decision ... a - a mistake ... but I can't take it back now." it really took me a lot of effort to admit this, but something about the look she gave me made me want to drop to my knees and beg her for forgiveness ... I didn't, but the fact that I even considered it was unnerving.
* * *
The Muggle Studies exam was by far the most difficult of the lot - but I did get through it. Eventually. Crabbe and Goyle were another matter altogether - they tried to cheat. Their idea of cheating was this: Crabbe, after answering the only two questions he thought he had a guess at, took a pinch of Zonko's nose-bleed powder (that must be what they bought in Zonko's a while ago), and covered his exam paper with blood - this landed him in the Hospital Wing for the rest of the day. Meanwhile, Goyle wrote "I am a rubber duck" five hundred times, did a funny little dance and fainted. Crabbe got away with it, but was told he has to re-sit the test at the end of the week. Goyle failed spectacularly, on the spot.
* * *
That evening, I was watching from the Library window as the sun started to set - the Hippogriff was waiting irritably for the executioner - I felt really sorry for it.
Then I spotted Potter and Hermione trying to sneak round to the edge of the Forest near Hagrid's hut. What confused me was that, as I watched the two Ministry men walking down to Hagrid's hut I had quite a clear view as Potter, Weasley and Hermione appeared out of the back of Hagrid's hut and threw an Invisibility Cloak around themselves ... so I was right - I so have to get me one of those. But who had I just seen run down to the Forest, then?
Curiouser and curiouser.
The second I saw this, I bolted, down to the dungeons as fast as I could, and almost hit Snape in the face, as he opened the door of his office just as I was about to knock it. "Professor Snape." I said, surprised. Not that I was surprised to see him, just that I was surprised that he'd appeared before I'd knocked.
"What seems to be the matter, Mr Malfoy?" Snape asked, not stopping, as he started walking briskly upwards, carrying a smoking goblet of some potion or other.
I had to jog to keep up with him, as I said, "Potter ... Weasley ... and Granger ... they're down at ... Hagrid's hut." quite out of breath, but then I had run all the way down there.
"Really?" he asked, in a malicious tone. I nodded, "I will deal with them as soon as I drop off this potion to Professor Lupin." he said - somehow making Lupin's name sound like a derogatory term.
I shivered, realising this was a wolf moon tonight, but didn't say anything to that. I followed Snape, hoping to get the opportunity to gloat when he caught Potter and his friends out where they shouldn't be. But when we got to the Defence teacher's office, Lupin was conspicuously absent. On his desk was a piece of parchment, but no teacher.
Snape swore quite fluently, before stalking over to the desk and examining the parchment there. He swore again, much more profusely, and ordered me not to follow him, then swept out of the room, all-but-running. As he disappeared around the corner, I heard his footsteps accelerate to probably as fast as he could run.
Strange. I wondered what that parchment said that upset Snape so much. So I walked over to read it.
'Messrs Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs
Purveyors of Aids to Magical Mischief-Makers
are proud to present
THE MARAUDER'S MAP'
The words were written in scrawling handwriting at the top of what appeared to be - as the title said - a map. Of Hogwarts. Including many secret passageways that I had never seen before.
I stared at it for a minute, before quickly taking out a blank piece of parchment from my pocket and a quill from Lupin's desk. I started to copy out as much of the map as I could. Obviously I couldn't copy the moving dots that represented the inhabitants of the castle, but knowing where the secret passageways were would be a good one-up on my current state of knowledge - I wasn't about to steal from the werewolf.
I had just finished copying all the dungeon, first, second, third and fourth floor passageways, and was starting on the fifth floor, when a movement on the map caught my eye - someone labelled Harry Potter and someone else labelled Hermione Granger were standing bloody close to someone labelled Sirius Black ... but what confused me was another dot labelled Harry Potter was at the far side of the lake, and a second Hermione Granger was in Hagrid's hut ... I stared for a few seconds, then went back to my copying - the top three floors had fewer secret passageways, anyway, and it didn't take long for me to finish taking notes.
I pocketed my parchment, and replaced the quill on the table, and glanced at the map again - Snape, Black, Weasley (Ron), Potter and Hermione were all moving towards the castle ... although the other Potter and Hermione were now close together at the far side of the lake. What was going on? Did Hermione have some way of being in two places at once?
I took note of this detail to worry about later, and bolted from the room, towards the Entrance Hall, where I waited for Snape to return - the map didn't show what state anyone on it was in - I had no idea if Snape was all right, or not - so I waited with my hand on my wand, just in case I felt the need to hex anyone.
The floating unconscious bodies of Potter, Weasley, and Hermione came through the main doors first ... closely followed by the much less carefully levitated but equally unconscious body of Sirius Black ... followed by Professor Snape, who was obviously in control of the hovering charms. I relaxed a little, and stepped out of the shadows, "What's going on, Professor?" I asked.
"I told you to stay out of the way." Snape snapped.
"I did - I kept myself well out of the way until I saw it was safe." I replied icily.
He glared at me, but then smiled, "I have apprehended Sirius Black, single-handed. He seemed to have some sort of confundus charm on Potter and his lackeys, that made them firmly believe Ronald Weasley's pet rat was Peter Pettigrew." he explained in the tone of a great hero who had saved the day.
I froze, and stared at Black in shock ... he caught the rat?
"Yes, amazing isn't it?" Snape continued with a proud smirk, and an almost palpable air of smugness. He must have misinterpreted the cause of my shock. "Of course, it just proves how much of a gullible fool Potter is ... much like his father."
I nodded slowly, "So was there even a rat there?" I asked, trying to make it sound like I was agreeing with him.
"Weasley's rat was there, yes ... though I can't imagine what leap of idiocy inspired them all to believe that the creature - which I myself have used to test potions on - was anything but a cheap substitute for a castle rodent." he said sneeringly.
I nodded in agreement, while staring at the unconscious Gryffindolts. "Idiots." I muttered.
"Indeed." he said, coldly, "Now, go back to your common room, Mr Malfoy." I nodded reluctantly, and did as I was told.
I got down to the common room in record time, "Cat, Blaise - emergency meeting." I muttered to the two girls, who quickly rounded up their gossip with Milli and some fourth year girl - I didn't know her name - and they followed me into the boys' dorm room, "Crabbe, Goyle - out - NOW!" they gathered up some parchments, and a book with a blank cover, and evacuated the room pretty quickly.
Cat and Blaise looked at me with curiosity, while Theo bounced on his bed, obviously hyper again ... someone needs to teach that boy to go easy on the sugar.
"Black's been captured ... but ... there's something odd going on." I took out my Spy Ball, and tapped it once, muttering the name "Hermione Granger." and what it showed was a sort of split-screen - one showed her lying on the bed in the hospital wing, the other showed her talking to Harry Potter at the far side of the lake.
"What the -?" Theo asked.
"It looks like there's two of them." I said, staring - there was another Harry Potter in the background of the Hospital Wing, too. "I have no idea how, though."
Blaise started counting off on her fingers, "Duplicating Spell. Polyjuice Potion. Illusion Charms. Time Turner. Glamoury."
"Time Turner? What's that?" Cat asked.
"It's a necklace that looks like an hourglass, and it turns back time, so you can do two things at once." I replied, thinking ... hadn't Hermione said she didn't have any tricks up her sleeve - it was down the front of her shirt - like a necklace. "I think Time Turner is our best bet - Polyjuice and Glamoury wouldn't fool the Spy Ball ... Duplicating Spells are really complicated, and an Illusion Charm wouldn't have lasted for two and a half hours, so far." I noted, "Though where she got her hands on one, I don't know."
"What makes you so sure it's Hermione who got her hands on it?" Theo asked.
"She dropped a few hints ... and if my theory is right, she's been using it all year to get to so many classes." I noted.
"Yeah ... makes sense." Theo conceded.
"Besides, Potter's not that smart." I noted, glancing at the spy ball ... the Hippogriff was there. "What the hell?"
"It's Buckbeak ... shouldn't he be dead by now?" Theo asked.
"Yes ... he should." I said distantly, "Unless someone wants to seriously piss off my father ... I can just imagine Potter playing hero for the poor defenceless creature." I was smirking, now. I hoped it did piss him off.
I watched in amusement as the two Gryffindors took off on the Hippogriff and flew around the school.
"What are they playing at? They could get in so much trouble!" Blaise said, shocked, then after a few seconds to think on this, she added, "Let's hope they get expelled for it."
I shook my head and turned off the spy ball - I didn't want to see Potter flying around on that thing - even if they didn't know I could see them, it still felt like they were trying to rub it in my face, somehow.
"Hey! I was watching that!" Theo whined.
"So?" I asked, then decided to change the subject, "Now, here's the good news - I found a map of Hogwarts, with all the secret passageways on it ... it was in Lupin's office, and there's no way I'd steal from him - he can't afford it anyway - but I copied it all down here." and I held up the parchment for them to see.
That successfully changed the subject, as we all started deciding exactly what to do with this new-found knowledge.
* * *
End of chapter 19